Webberley Antiques

Description

A wonderful Queen Anne elm and oak lowboy with all of the finer detailing seen on fashionable London pieces of the period but constructed and turned in local timbers - a vernacular piece made by a very skilled and experienced cabinet maker.

English furniture was, until the late 1600s, almost entirely made from oak which was pegged and jointed without glue or screws.
Furniture was mostly functional, robust and versatile but rarely elegant or experimental in form. When William and Mary took the throne of England in 1690, they brought with them the European understanding and love of inlays and decorative veneers and, as with any Royal tastes, this immediately became highly fashionable and desirable. English cabinet makers adapted very quickly to their customers revised demands for furniture that was elaborate and fine, lighter in weight and appearance.

With Queen Anne’s brief accession to the throne there was a ten year renaissance of British cabinet making with a focus on the elegant, the refined and light – entirely different to the heavy and painted oak furniture of the previous centuries.

This lowboy, with its fine leg turnings, wavy cross stretcher and wide oversailing top was made by a craftsman who embraced the new fashions and was able to make this wonderful lowboy. The materials were the same timbers used in the decades prior but here the legs are turned from huge blocks of oak with wide turned bulbs which show the original width designed emphasise the very light, open and slender legs below (united by substantive but fine wavy stretchers) in supporting the delicately fashioned drawer section and planked oversailing top.

Original handles, one with small later fixings but in original position.

All the timbers original, great patination and really beautiful colour.

An evocative piece of early English furniture which has been left to be - untroubled by time.


Dimensions are:

30 inches wide, 20 inches deep, 27 inches high.

Drawer depth (internal and usable height) 3.25 inches.
I describe and photograph my pieces accurately and with the aim that on arrival each will exceed expectations.

I operate a full refund guarantee and am always happy to give free, honest and friendly advice.